Welcome to Hogwarts
by Mast
Summary: Two passengers on the Hogwarts Express have a chat.


Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe, as well as anything you can recognize, belongs to J.K. Rowling. The characters of Julian and Elise belong to their respective creators, and are used with permission. [ Rated PG for mention of drugs and alcohol. ]

"Mum! You forgot my spray!" Julian called hurriedly to his mother as they raced into the station. "I _told_ you we shouldn't have stopped for donuts! Now I'm going to be late, and the train's gonna leave without me, and I'll be kicked out of Hogwarts!"

Laughing slightly, his mother scolded him. "You are not going to be late, the train shouldn't leave for a bit, and they won't kick you out of Hogwarts for a little tardy. Besides, aren't I the mother? I'm supposed to be scolding you for delinquent behavior!" Julian rolled his eyes, and then dodged his mothers swat. "I've got to go now, Mum."

His mother stared around a bit, and then cursed. "Where is the wretched door? How can they expect us to go to the train if theres no door? Wait. Can you see a door? Is it one of those magic thingies, you think?"

* * *

"Have a nice time, dear!" Her mother called after her, before turning and exiting the station.

Shooting a nervous glance over her shoulder as she boarded the train - as if her mother would still be there - Elise entered the first compartment and looked around, hand drawing through her hair nervously.

She sat on one of the seats by the window, propping her elbows against the window as she peered out, watching the various people enter and exit the station.

* * *

Julian blinked. "I don't see it," he replied nervously. "Maybe it was all just a really good prank or something?"

Then his mother beamed. Racing over to an annoyed-looking woman with one child, she asked quickly, "Is your son Hogwarts bound? My son is too, but we can't find the way to the train and I'm afraid it may have closed what house do you think your child will be in if your not so sorry ignore me I'm mad" She said, all in one breath.

Giving her a cold look, the woman opened her mouth to impart a biting comment, but then Mrs. Smith noticed someone she recognized and raced off a careless goodbye.

After some kind directions from a slightly odd man, Julian was on the train, trying his best to ignore his mother waving frantically at him.

Stumbling into a compartment, he threw himself onto a seat, and then gasped as he realized he had just thrown himself onto someone. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were there!"

"Hey!" Elise shoved him away, scowling.

"If you're going to so artfully FLING yourself at people, the least you can do is introduce yourself," she said, standing and brushing her robes off.

"Ouch." he grumbled as he fell over. "No need to be rude. I apologized, didn't I?"

"Oh, yeah. My name is Julian. What's yours?" and saying that, he pulled out a small bottle and started spraying it into his mouth.

"How will I ever be able to live with myself, having been rude? And not only once, but twice! I, dear sir, am Elise - at your service." Snorting, she swept a imaginery hat from your head in front of her.

Turning to her, he frowned. "Are you on drugs or something? Who DOES that?" he stared at her suspiciously and carefully tucked his spray into his pocket.

"My cousin did things like that too, but then again, usually he was drunk."

She snorted once more, turning to settle herself in a window seat once more.

"Dear, KIND sir. Do I -look- drunk to you?" She scowled at him.

"Yes."

"Or drugged. I can't tell."

"I'm going to..." She snarled, eyes narrowing, before she smiled.

"What a BRILLIANT joke. Me, drunk. Drugged." She proceeded to giggle, though her eyes remained narrowed.

Carefully, Julian placed himself behind his pile of luggage. "Your not gonna go crazy and attack me, are you? Don't worry, I wont sue. People under the influence can't really be held responsible for what they do. But don't expect me not to curse you! I've been practicing. Mum made me. She said I needed to know some magic defense stuff so we went through my defense magic book all summer."

Elise's eyes narrowed even more, if it was possible, and she practically snarled.

"You WENCH. For the LAST TIME. I am NOT drunk, nor am I DRUGGED on some PATHETHIC muggle DRUGS!" She stood, hands clenched.

"If you keep making faces, your face might stick like that. I've seen it happen before, to nicer people." He told her seriously.

"And wenches are girls, idget."

"Keep it up, and I will MAKE you into a girl!" Her hand reached into her robes, presumably for her wand.

Worriedly, he studied her face. "You have bags under your eyes too." Ignoring (or perhaps not noticing) her wand, he yanked out a small pack. Pulling out a chunk of leaves, he handed it to her. "Take this. It's from my Mum's store. It cleanses your system of toxins, and helps get rid of colds!"

"You should get help, ya know? There are -places- you can go to help you." He told her solemnly.

"... Keep your nasty muggle drugs to yourself!" She'd shove them back at him.

At his words, she bristled.

"For the LAST TIME, I am not addicted to your PATHETHIC MUGGLE DRUGS," this was screamed, "you... HARPY."

He sighed. "Fine. But remember, there are -places- you can go to help you." He nods wisely. Then he scowled "They are not drugs! They are herbs! You can't get addicted to them or nothing."

She sneered. "Or nothing? Don't you muggles get taught grammar down in your 'hamburgular' land?"

Rolling his eyes he told her mockingly, "I bet you'll be a Slytherin. Unpleasant as anything, and stupid to boot. My friend Dennis told me Slytherin's are -evil- and dumb." Apparently, he had chosen to ignore her grammar question.

Then, as the cart lady came in, he beamed. "Sweets!"

As he stared hungrily at the food, his delight shifted into disappointment. "All the food is -weird-. Who wants to eat frogs?"

"Evil? Merlin have mercy, EVIL?" She began pacing in the small confines of the compartment, hands flaying above her head in what she deemed a fanatical way.

"Evil? And what is this EVIL you speak of?

I say this EVIL you speak of is LOYALTY. CLEVERNESS. BRAINS! BRAINS. What does the world need them now days? We have natural born leaders, boy!" She jabbed him harshly in the chest. "NATURAL BORN LEADERS -

"Don't touch me." He interrupted, frowning. "Ah, so your gonna be a Hufflepuff? I think I'm gonna be that too. Sounds like the best house to me."

"- NATURAL BORN LEADERS, BOY. Do you know what that MEANS? It means we have no ROOM for cleverness! We have no ROOM for loyalty! We have no ROOM for bravery, wit, and all that other fancy junk! What we need - WHAT WE THRIVE ON - IS CUNNING. SLYNESS. We, boy, rely on the SNAKE FOR OUR POWER. THE SNAKE, BOY!" She ignored his Hufflepuff remark.

"And why do you guys eat frogs, anyway? Don't you have enough money to eat normal food?"

"..." he stared. "You sound like you are in some sort of cult? Are you a loyal follower or something?" Then his eyes darted quickly towards the door. "You really do need help. A cult AND drugs!?"

Carefully, he stepped over to the door, moving out of the way of the cart lady.

She would continue on, as if he had never spoken.

"What we need, BOY, is AMBITION. Without it, we'll NEVER SUCEED." She trotted towards the cart lady, and taking a few galleons out of her purse, would hand buy two chocolate frogs before moving out of the way. She'd tear off the frog's head savagely, and swallowing before she spoke, would continue. "WE NEED NO FAMILY, BOY. WE NEED... _Slytherin's_."

"You ARE in a cult!" Horrified, he grabbed his things and attempted to drag them away from her. Unfortunately, they were too heavy.

She flung herself at her seat, and sprawl across the seat.

"... scaring muggles is such work," she said cheerily, resting one arm across her brow.

As she spoke those words, a small herd of redheads walked by.

One paused to stick her tongue out at them mockingly before continuing.

"Look! It's the rabbit family," she snickered, before her eye twitched as she counted. "Those aren't the Weasleys - there are TWO of them?"

The eldest of the group paused and bestowed her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, well, well. More bratty little midgets. Too bad I'm not head girl or prefect." And the boy sniggered. "Reminds me of you, actually."

As they left, the eldest girl smacked the boy upside the head.

"So rude. I was _never_ like _that!"_

The little one piped up, "Were too! Still are, actually."

Elise shook her head mock-sadly, before turning her back to Julian, comfortable on her makeshift bed.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."


End file.
